Over 2.07 Crore Voter Forms Left Uncollected in Maharashtra Electoral Roll Revision
More than 2.07 crore voter enumeration forms across Maharashtra remained uncollected during the ongoing Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls, with concerns raised regarding the exclusion of voters in districts including Thane, Pune, and Nashik.
According to data released by the Maharashtra Chief Electoral Officer, the state has 9,78,54,049 registered voters. Of these, enumeration forms for 7,69,52,262 voters, or 78.64 per cent, have been digitised, while forms relating to 2,07,93,916 voters, representing 21.25 per cent, remained uncollected. Officials attributed the uncollected forms to voters being absent, deceased, having shifted residence, or duplicate entries.
The SIR enumeration exercise commenced across Maharashtra on June 30, deploying 1,00,253 booth-level officers (BLOs). Election officials noted that digitisation work was 99.89 per cent complete, with fourteen of Maharashtra's 36 districts having completed 100 per cent of the SIR work, while the two Mumbai districts reached approximately 99 per cent.
NCP (SP) MLA Rohit Pawar raised strong objections regarding the exclusion of more than two crore names and questioned the criteria used to omit voters from the draft roll. Following a meeting with election officials, Pawar claimed the uncollected cases included roughly 34 lakh voters listed as deceased, 76 lakh unreachable households, and 77 lakh voters who had permanently shifted residence, alongside around two lakh individuals who refused to provide information.
Pawar expressed concern that exclusions could climb further following scrutiny of incomplete details. He also alleged that BLOs faced pressure to complete the verification quickly, claiming that "table surveys" were conducted with information supplied by political workers in Thane, Nashik, and Pune.
Election officials stated that citizens whose names are excluded from the draft electoral roll, including those marked absent during the exercise, will have the opportunity to seek inclusion by submitting Form 6 for verification and restoration.
